…Peki Headmaster, Bursar Cited
…Editor threatened with juju amidst other plots to get story dropped
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh
In Africa, when we talk about corruption, we all focus our attention on the politician whilst government money is being ‘stolen’ by people we least expect.
Reports reaching The New Independent say, various stakeholders who are connected to the Peki Senior Technical and High School in the Volta Region, are calling for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the school’s Headmaster, Mr. Vincent Ayitey and the Bursar, Francis Yevuga, for allegedly perpetrating various degrees of fraud on [ads1]government by suppressing money meant for the use by the School.
The two are alleged to have conspired in concert to ‘steal’ monies amounting to over GHc 300, 000 through alleged inflation of costs of supply of materials, including food, stationery and provision of services to the school.
Their modus operandi is such that, it will be very difficult for internal and external auditors to come to terms with their operations, because in most cases, their attempts to cover up were beyond imagination.
The alleged corrupt practices, which have been exposed following investigations by an investigative journalist of The New Independent, saw the bursar of the school pushing the procurement law aside and acting as the major supplier of most perishable and non-perishable goods to the school.
In one case, the bursar is alleged to have used a company called ‘FRAMIL’ company limited, a company that once belonged to his late brother, but sources have disclosed that, the bursar, Mr. Francis Yevugah rather registered that company using his late brother only as a conduit.
Mr. Francis Yevugah, whose wife is ‘Millicent’, coined the name of the company using his first name and his wife’s first name, that is, ‘Francis and Millicent’ adding up as ‘FRAMIL’ to form the company.
The bursar again is also alleged to have used invoices belonging to some suppliers in perpetrating fraud on public money. The inflation of costs of items supplied by Mr. Francis Yevugah was made possible using other invoices as mentioned above.
As at press time yesterday, Mr. Francis Yevugah was alleged to have issued various sums of money in the form of payments amounting to over Three Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH300,000.00) allegedly using fraudulent means.
The situation is even worse in a case where few suppliers that were given contracts by the school are allegedly tasked to pay 10% of the costs of total contracts before they are awarded those contracts.
Similar acts of alleged embezzlements that cannot be mentioned now, because they are still under investigation, are damning to the extent that, informants wonder why the politician and the police are labeled as the most corrupt in society.
Narrowing down on activities of the Headmaster of the school, it has been alleged that, a Toyota official vehicle (Pick-up) donated to the school by government to accelerate transport issues within the school, was recklessly used by the headmaster resulting in a near fatal accident, which accident was not even properly accounted for, because the Headmaster, who is not allowed by law to drive the official vehicle himself, was using the vehicle himself when the accident occurred and he used it to cart stones qualified as boulders to an undisclosed destination.
This means that, the headmaster failed to exercise effective supervision over the day to day affairs of the school, resulting in the numerous problems, which have engulfed the school today.
A senior tutor at the school who pleaded anonymity told this reporter that, “as a matter of fact, it is unacceptable for the head of a senior high school to be heard and seen openly undermining government’s free senior high school policy, while President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo keeps calling on all Ghanaians to support his Free SHS policy to the advantage of the poor Ghanaian student. This policy of free SHS is being undermined by the head of Peki Senior High School, particularly by those at the helm of affairs.”
Meanwhile, when the headmaster of the school, Vincent Ayitey was contacted, he declined to comment on the allegations but however stated that, his Regional Director had ordered him to remain quiet on the development.
He also refused to answer phone calls from the Editor of this paper on several occasions.
On his part, the Bursar, Mr. Francis Yevuga, as at press time yesterday told the Editor on phone that, he could not comment on the allegations, because he doesn’t have the permission of his Headmaster to do so.
It may interest the public to know that, the Bursar had in earlier conversions threatened the Editor with juju, indicating to him that, if the story was published he would use all available means to deal with him and his team.
“You should know that, there are two spirits in this world and I know what to do if you should go ahead to publish any such report about me, which I know is not factual,” he warned the Editor.
The Volta Regional Director of Education, Mr. Alexander Buadi confirmed to the Editor before press time last night that, the matter came before him last week, but the issues raised were conflicting and that, he was looking for the opportunity to meet with the Headmaster together with the Journalists involved to have the matter resolved.
Meanwhile an official source at the headquarters of the Ghana Education Service has condemned the conduct of the Headmaster, who is said to have hijacked the school’s official vehicle without allowing the official driver to drive the car.
“Our rules and regulations frown on such conduct. Heads of Educational Institutions are not permitted to drive the cars themselves, they are to be driven by the official drivers and that, if any headmaster commandeers any vehicle and drives it himself, that is a clear case of misconduct,” the GES told the Editor yesterday in Accra.
But coming up, this paper will reveal how some additional procurement processes were ignored during the award of some contracts in the school, including the drilling of a borehole.
Source: The New Independent